The oscillations of a vibrating system in the presence of Coulomb friction damping is well known. In this paper, an attempt is made to use this concept, to measure the coefficient of friction. For this purpose, a simple pendulum, whose hinge is not free from Coulomb friction, is considered. An experimental set-up is designed and fabricated. Experiments are performed with different materials and the coefficients of friction are determined. Satisfactory results are obtained. The work described here may be incorporated as a laboratory experiment in applied mechanics.
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